Labella orders review of transactions by previous administration that require his signature

Lawyer Flores Casas Jr. | CDN Digital Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines –Contracts of government transactions that require the signature of Mayor Edgardo Labella is now the subject of review by members of his transition team.

Lawyer Flores Casas Jr., who is also the new city administrator,  said that they wanted to make sure that the contracts are in order before these will be presented to Labella for his signature.

The contracts that Casas was referring to involved negotiations made during the incumbency of Mayor Tomas Osmeña but have remained unsigned because of the change in leadership at the City Hall.

“We are reviewing contracts that the execution would be (made) in the time of Mayor Labella. We need to make sure that these contracts are in order,” he said.

Casas said that their review will also include the contract which Osmeña entered into with ARN Central Waste Management Inc., the developer of the Binaliw landfill.  While the contract was already signed by the former mayor in February, this have not been implemented.

Mayor Labella wanted to see if his administration could still reduce the duration of the contract from three years  to a shorter period of time.

Read More: Labella to order review of Binaliw landfill contract

Casas said that Labella has directed him and members of the transition committee to produce a comprehensive report on their review of  transactions entered into by the Osmeña administration and those that were already negotiated but were not yet covered by a contract.

The previous administration’s transition committee turned over documents to members of Labella’s transition committee as part of the turnover of leadership at the City Hall on June 30.

The documents submitted were the 2018 Governance Assessment Report prepared by the Commission on Audit, contracts and loan agreements, the comprehensive development plan, organizational structure, executive orders and full disclosure policy. Also submitted were copies of the 2019 annual budget; Statement of Debt Services; Annual Procurement Plan, bid results on civil works, goods, and services and consulting services; trust fund utilization; manpower complement; unliquidated cash advances; and report of the Local Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund.

Casas said they are also looking into the purchases made by the Osmeña administration to make sure that these were not overpriced. /dcb